Rainy , Windy and Wildly Happy

It is raining in Patten, Maine while I sit on my porch and think about the rainy view  from the dining room table in Twillingate.  As I write about Newfoundland I am also finding myself firmly planted along the Appalachian Range in Northern Maine just one-half hour away from the Canadian Border.  It was three weeks ago day that we arrived back home. Down time was essential for us, neither Marcia or I are spring chickens and I would at times marvel at the idea that the two of us were actually traveling in Newfoundland somewhere between awesome and OMG.  These days, not spending hours on the road, had their own kind of expansiveness where I could just wander with my mind and my eyes. Replaying what I had seen, the steps that I took, the people that I noticed.  Hearing the sounds and the accents and my own internal humming and buzzing and more.  

 I filled pulled today to just share moments, ideas, my internal wanderings.  Pride flags, who knew after 50 years that the place (outside of a Pride parade or March on Washington) where I would see more pride flags, decals, signs and other forms of welcoming and recognition would be Newfoundland.  There were pride flags everywhere,  Pride in Canada a government site says that Pride is celebrated June to September, celebrate they do.  At Provincial sites I would see a Canadian flag, a Provincial flag and a Gay Pride flag.  I am sure that Marcia got tired of hearing me say, look there's another Gay Pride flag.  I thought I had taken many pride flag pictures, but I didn't, the pictures I took were inside my head.  

I have been delighted and surprised about the affect on me seeing all these flags, I have told stories of this to many people since I have returned.  I still feel this sense of being seen, of being empowered.  As I tap on my laptop I find myself remembering being in Washington DC in 1987 for the March of Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights.  I had spent months working with a planning team in Minnesota.  I was so excited about participating.  There was so much that was going to occur besides the March itself and I was ready to do as much as I could.  I was a part of a small delegation from Minnesota (other states were doing the same thing) that went to see our congressional delegation and some other key members of congress.  We told our stories, we gave them numbers, we showed up.  The halls of Congress we filled with members of the LGBTQ

Community and our Allies.  I remember walking out of the Capitol building that day, looking back at the building and out onto the Mall and feeling (for maybe the very first time) that this was MY country, this was my capitol and there was a place for me, it was the moment of great big gay pride and great big participation in democracy and being a patriot.  I am imagining now as I share my own musings that somehow that feeling in 1987 and the feeling I experienced as I saw one gay pride flag after another gay pride flag had somehow merged, once again understanding the power of witnessing and being witnessed.    Some good rainy day musings and so very poignant for this precise time that we are in as a nation, as a country.

 Soaking tubs.  I found soaking tubs in Canada.  I do not have a tub in my little house. I have a shower, there are practical reasons for this, and I love taking a bath.  With the exception of almost every "one night stand" their was a tub.  A luxurious, deep easy to slip down into tub.  There is something very fun about being in a tub on an island.  For me, soaking in a tub is relaxing.  The warmth of the water.  Being in my own little water world.  The tub time was a miniature reality of just being enveloped in the sea mist, the sea air, sea water on this little island off a big island.  Soaking it all in, another time and another way of remembering, of reliving, of experiencing the moment and the day.  Soaking it in, getting it in my pores.  This trip that I had so surprisingly started to dream about.  The big wow's and the the tiniest moment of noticing. I have shared with my BFF that going to Newfoundland, this pull to go to the rock seems to be founded in needing and wanting to tap into a deep joy, a deep immersion in beauty, a place of same and difference for me.  Somehow I have found my own "Come From Away". 

I tapped into the feeling of hope, into a resilience, and a belief that we can act from care, love, and trust not fear, hate and distrust.  Welcomed.  Oh my, whether a rainy day on my porch in Maine, or a rainy day on the rock my mind wanders.  The air feels fresh and the sounds of the rain and wind and trees all mingle together.  It got a little wild looking out at the ocean.  My own self felt a little wild.  There are many more adventures.  A trip to Toogood Arm and Auk Island Winery, now called the Great Auk Winery were on the itinerary.  Today was a take it easy day.  Soak it all in.